SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK

GEORGE HUTCHINSON

The winner, whether it's old Wilson or new Heath, could render a national service by announcing at the very beginning of the next Parliament that—subject to one quali- fication—there won't be another general election till June 1975. Barring a Govern- ment defeat of cataclysmic proportions in the House of Commons, the incoming Parliament should sit for the five years which the law allows. Given adequate sup- port in the House, and a corresponding measure of public respect, any administra- tion should be able to act all the more effectively if it knows how long it will last.

Many of the benefits are self-evident. As we have seen again in recent weeks and months, the penalties of not having a fixed term are delay, dislocation, indecision and even paralysis, not only in the realm of public affairs but in every sort of activity. For the political parties themselves there could be important advantages if the in- cumbent Prime Minister were to surrender his freedom of manoeuvre. From then on, they could conduct their respective organisa- tions, if not on a shoestring, certainly on a much reduced scale for, say, four of the five years. Then, in the twelvemonth before a general election, they could let themselves go, recruiting, as the American parties do, all the talents available for the run-up to the campaign. There would be a tremendous saving, especially for the Tories, as they spend much more than their rivals. One effect, of course, would be to exchange a lot of the permanent retainers who grow stale in party service for fresh minds at every election.

Aggressive

I've never understood the complaint, widely voiced though it is, that up to now the Tories have been keeping us all in the dark about their policies, and not letting on for fear of scaring an apprehensive electorate. I should have thought, on the contrary, that most of their proposals had become public property long ago—perhaps too long ago. That impression is certainly heightened by a read- ing of the Conservatives' election manifesto. I feel that I've seen it all before. But if the programme seems familiar, Heath's fore- word manages to provide a little novelty by its tone, which strikes me as unusually pugnacious for a document of this order.

His little list

Edward Heath is not a vindictive man, but (like all good chief whips, active or retired) he has a long memory. He knows the pol- troons of his own party in Parliament who were all too ready, in the first shock of the adverse opinion polls, to write the election off for the Tories, and to write him off as well. He knows who they are—and he won't forget.

As Butler saw it

The Butler-Macmillan relationship, never the warmest, is to undergo a further strain. Like his old colleague (and antagonist), 'Rab' is completing his memoirs. But unlike Mr Macmillan, who has three volumes pub- lished and two more to come, he is confin- ing himself to a single book, which is now so far advanced that he can think of publi, cation in perhaps nine months' time. in it, 'Rab' intends to present his own frank ver- sion of the struggle for the Tory leadership in October 1963, when his claims to the succession were finally thwarted by the 'emergence' of Lord Home.

The Butler account cannot possibly accord with what Mr Macmillan would consider the reality of events. It will be closer, I predict, to what lain Macleod had to say (in these very pages) in his famous denuncii ation of the 'magic circle'.

London knights

Students of the honours system, and of local government in London, wait with in- terest to see what fortune befalls Mr Leslie Freeman, the retiring chairman of the atc. No doubt he will receive a knighthood. But of what degree? I hear suggestions that the GBE awarded to his predecessor, Sir Louis Gluckstein, may be taken as a precedent for the future. To which I would merely add the observation that Sir Louis was a rather special case. After long public service, both as a Member of Parliament and in London government. he was already a knight (and a am) when he became chairman of the GLc. That is why he was elevated to such rank in the order to which he already belonged.

Pillar to post

Lord Hall, a nobleman few of us had noticed before he leapt to sudden promin- ence as head of the Post Office, is for ever soliciting suggestions from the public. He is even paying fees for some of them. I offer him a thought for nothing. Wouldn't it be a good thing if mail were always col- lected at the right time—or later? Unless I turn up half an hour beforehand I can hardly ever catch the seven pm collection from my nearest pillar box. I've arrived at 6.50, even at 6.45 — but no, the post had already gone. It is a maddening experience: pre- mature collections are irretrievably worse than late ones. For this, if for no other branch of the Post Office service, I com- mend a new rule to Lord Hall: better late than early.

Protocol

I was witness the other day to a dis- quieting incident en the Channel coast. A naval bomb disposal squad were detonating a twenty-five-pound affair found in one of the rock pools on the shore. This happens from time to time: it's surprising how many bombs are still lying around in the south- east so long after the war. What was disquieting was not the discovery of the bomb so much as the delay in explod- ing it. I learned afterwards that this bomb had been found and reported to the police, who there and then inspected it, three days before the naval unit drove up in their jeep to dispose of it. Apparently these specialists are in great demand. They had other bombs to let off elsewhere, it seems, and besides that their base is more than a hundred miles away. Yet the immediate neighbourhood contains at least three army establishments. Ah yes, but the bomb was on the seashore—and that made it a naval responsibility, so I'm told,